MIRECC / CoE

Grant Writing Scholars 2022

In February, the 2022 class of SC MIRECC Grant Writing Scholars (GWS) participated in a virtual grant writing workshop. The GWS program provides investigators with individual mentoring and didactic training in successful grant writing. The program prepares scholars for submitting grants to funding agencies such as SC MIRECC, VA Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Dr. Michael Cucciare, the SC MIRECC Associate Director for Research Training, directs the GWS program. Drs. Geoffrey Curran and Ellen Fischer led the workshop. Dr. Curran is the Director of the UAMS Center for Implementation Research and Endowed Chair in Pharmacy Practice Innovation. Dr. Fischer is the SC MIRECC Assistant Director for Research and a Senior Research Health Scientist at the HSR&D COIN.

Members of the 2022 GWS class are:

• Alexandra (Ali) Balzer Caloudas, PhD
• Jessica Meers, PhD
• Maribel Plasencia, PhD
• Christine Rizk, MD
• Brandon Griffin, PhD
• Marcela (Marci) Weber, PhD
• Claire Houtsma, PhD
• Mary Shapiro, PhD
• William Ramsey, PhD

Scholars completed a program evaluation at the end of the workshop:

Scholars also gave feedback about how they benefitted from the program, including:

• Writing the draft proposal and speaking with the primary reviewer was helpful in forcing me to start thinking about my grant submission and hearing critiques from a reviewer’s perspective. The presentations during the workshop were helpful in reviewing specific topics, like specific aims, and answering specific questions.
• The Grant Writing Scholar program was of high quality and tremendous relevance regarding the topic of effective grant writing practices. It will be of great help in preparing grants for submission given the level of detail and specificity provided regarding key content areas within a grant. The program was also helpful in providing expectations for work/life balance from the perspective of the experienced program presenters.
• I think that the opportunity for practical application and feedback on grant writing skills is excellent and will absolutely prepare me for developing future grant proposals. Having the deadline for a draft helped motivate me to set aside time for grant writing, and the structured opportunities for feedback were excellent and exactly what I needed. I feel much better prepared to move forward with submitting my proposal.

After the workshop, scholars further refined their proposals, which will be submitted to various funding agencies.

Last updated: May 19, 2022